Palgrave The Governance of Private Security

This book offers new insights and original empirical research on private military and security companies (PMSCs), including China’s negotiation approach to governance, an account of Nigeria’s first engagement with regulatory cooperation under the threat of Boko Haram, and a study of PMSCs in Ebola-hit Western Africa. The author engages with concepts and theories from IR, Political Economy, and African studies―like regime, forum shopping, and extraversion―to describe what shapes state choices in national and international fora. The volume clarifies and spells out the needed questions and definitions and proposes a synthesis of how regime formation is shaped by ideas, interests, and institutions, starting from the proposition that regulatory cooperation consists in facilitating the acceptance and use of a single identifier for private military and security companies. Review “Private security companies are becoming an ever-greater part of how states wage war and manage internal security threats. Yet, they remain largely unregulated, posing legal and political challenges that impact international affairs. In this incisive book, Marco Boggero relies on theoretical insights of international relations and evidence from important cases to provide a rich analysis of the problem of regulating private security within the bounds of international law. This timely book is an excellent starting point for policy makers and academics alike in grappling within a critical challenge.” (Vali Nasr, Dean, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, USA) “The book makes an important contribution to our understanding the evolving and contested norm regarding reliance and governance of PMSCs. Inclusion of critical understudied cases in Africa is particularly important due to the tensions they illustrate between the historical sensitivity to mercenaries and current security challenges confronting weak states.” (Renée de Nevers, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, USA) From the Back Cover This book offers new insights and original empirical research on private military and security companies (PMSCs), including China’s negotiation approach to governance, an account of Nigeria’s first engagement with regulatory cooperation under the threat of Boko Haram, and a study of PMSCs in Ebola-hit Western Africa. The author engages with concepts and theories from IR, Political Economy, and African studies―like regime, forum shopping, and extraversion―to describe what shapes state choices in national and international fora. The volume clarifies and spells out the needed questions and definitions and proposes a synthesis of how regime formation is shaped by ideas, interests, and institutions, starting from the proposition that regulatory cooperation consists in facilitating the acceptance and use of a single identifier for private military and security companies. Marco Boggero teaches global policy at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, USA. About the Author Marco Boggero teaches global policy at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, USA.